Trouble in the Dungeon
by Arthur Savorian
Summary: When a young mage is hounded by a secret guild, he strives to uncover the truth behind their actions with his companions. Sounds generic, but...I'm not very good at summaries. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All references to Maple Story objects, places, or names are the property of the guys at Wizet and Nexon. I do own the DungeonPolice guild and all characters that I bring into the story, but that's about IT. _

Chapter 1: Bad Luck

The dull green Snail slowly ambled through the Sunset Sky, near Kerning City. I watched it strut around for a minute before I absently killed it with a swing of my Mythril wand. It shriveled in on itself before completely fading, leaving only an empty shell. I stared at the spot where it had been, almost envying it. It would have been great to just disappear and not have to worry about the mess I was in.

Three days ago, everything had been going so smoothly. My best friend had invited me to join his guild, I had made millions by finding a 10 jump scroll in the Dungeon, and I had just found a great new training ground. However, my joy was short-lived. I can only suppose that some GMs had seen my success and said, "Hey! Let's blow this up in his face!" Before long, I had been expelled from my guild for no apparent reason, my account at Orbis had been looted, and an odd guild called the DungeonPolice had been defaming and harassing me whenever I saw them. The guild was by far the worst part of this change in my life. They would often use force against me, and never hesitated to relieve me of some mesos. Eventually, it got to the point that I would duck out of sight whenever I saw any Mapler wearing black, the uniform color of the odd guild. It seemed that the whole Maple world had suddenly turned against me.

"Yo! Arthur!" I swung around to see a familiar archer running towards me, carrying a slim case. _Oh, great. Now her, too?_ "Oh, hello, Monica," I sighed in resignation, hoping to get my depressed and irritable mood across. It seemed not to work, as she raced up to me, grinning. She opened her case to reveal the glistening black crystal she had been trying to sell. "Listen, I'm going to take the price down on this, just for you. It's a wrench, but how about 5 million mesos for it instead of 7 million?" She had tried the bargain with me several times before, and I wasn't sure why she expected my answer to change.

"Look, I'm not about to bargain here, so can you PLEASE go away?" I asked, somewhat rudely. I was not in the mood to humor a punk archer, especially not one that I owed a debt to. About four months ago, I had been accidentally accused of a Cash Shop embezzling incident by a GM who had gotten his files messed up. He had been about to take me away when Monica had miraculously seen the commotion. She had some relation with the GM, and managed to smooth the entire thing over and detain the real crook. Unfortunately, she had tried to stick to me like glue afterwards, trying to find buyers for her huge collection of odd trinkets and Monster cards, and someone to mooch experience off by partying them. Usually, she expected that someone to be me.

Instead of giving up, Monica followed me through Kerning City, pestering me with questions as to what was wrong with her great find.

"Aw, come on, Arthur, do you just hate its beauty?"

"You don't come across a treasure like this every day…"

"Gee, Arthur, can't you consider my offers for once?"

I considered shaking her off by ducking into the weapons store and out through the back exit, but reconsidered. Instead, I turned to her with a great effort.

"Look," I tried to patiently explain, "Even if I wanted your shiny trinket, my account has just been looted. I have about 5,000 mesos left, and I'm not about to throw it away on that dumb shiny jewel." As she stood, obviously shaken, I seized my chance and sped away.

I headed through the city, oblivious to all the vendors and the giant mass of people clambering for a shot at the Party Quest, until some PQer bumped into me. I could tell by his pleading look that he thought I was under level 30, and he desperately wanted me in his party.

"Dude, you have to do me a favor! You just…need to PQ with us! We have track, and high-leveled members, and you just HAVE to!" A small box flashed up in front of me, flashing the message _Party request from archerdude1223. Accept? _

"Well, buddy, I'd love to help, but I'm over level 30, so..." The rest of my reply was lost as an eager young thief, hoping to pick up a quick Party Quest partner, bumped into me, knocking me over. As I fell, my finger accidentally brushed the _Yes_ button on the box.

Immediately, icons appeared over the archer who was talking to me, and two burly warriors right next to Lakelis. They both bombarded her with demands to enter the Party Quest, and she responded by saying something about a party member being at the incorrect level for the Kerning City PQ. As the warriors stood in disbelief, another group of four strode up to Lakelis, talked to her, and disappeared.

All three of my new party members turned slowly to face me, scowling. I was expelled from the party and defamed by all of them at once. As I turned to leave, one of the burly warriors charged at me, swinging a dangerous-looking broadsword and muttering curses. I needed no further encouragement to hot-foot it out of there.

As I stormed through the forest near Kerning, something caught my eye, high in a tree. It was steel helm, but it was colored black instead of the customary steel gray. Too late, I realized that it was probably a member of the DungeonPolice. He must have been following me in the city, waiting for a deserted place to strike. Immediately, I sprang into galvanized action, weaving through the foliage of the forest. A small ditch in the ground up ahead caught my eye-perhaps it could be used as a makeshift shelter. I put on a burst of speed, trying to get towards it, and my foot caught on a protruding limb on the ground. I fell heavily in front of the ditch, sprawled out on the forest floor.

As I glared at my view of the ground and the ditch, all I could see, the guild member dropped from a tree overhead to land right next to me, just inside my range of vision. Appearing as just a shadowy figure, he knelt down, hesitated, and then dropped a small, folded piece of paper into my pack. _Probably some joke or bit of bad news for me_, I thought resentfully. The DungeonPolice member started to say something, but then broke off, staring at something I could not see. Obviously shaken for some reason, he pulled out a blunted throwing star. My head was roughly jerked up, and the guild member thrust the star between my eyes and quickly removed it. The sudden pain, along with an odd look on his face, accompanied me into unconsciousness.

"Arthur? Are you okay?"

I didn't want to open my eyes. It was so peaceful just to lie here, enjoying the day. But as I tried to drift back to sleep, some fragment of memory flickered. A person, dressed all in black, staring at me. Looking at me with such sorrow in their eyes. There had been a funny symbol on the person's clothing, like a bull's eye. It meant something to me, but I didn't really care what.

_DungeonPolice_. The single thought pierced me, and I realized where I was and what had happened to me. Sighing inwardly, I decided to open my eyes.

Monica's face, marked with concern, was inches from my own. Seeing me awake, the face relaxed in relief. I blinked, and the rest of her body came into focus. She was bending down, feeling my forehead for a fever.

"Oh, thank heavens you're up!" she exclaimed. "Lucky for you, too… My next step in trying to wake you up was to slap you until you moved." She grinned fiendishly.

Groaning, I shakily stood up. My doros robe was now splattered with mud, and my bronze pride had somehow rolled down a long hill to my left. I opened a bottle of red potion and gulped down the contents, which helped my headache a bit. I cursed the whole day and my own bad luck.

As I reached for my pack, something crinkled inside. Puzzled, I opened it up to find the note that had been slipped in there minutes before. Although I had dismissed it as a joke before, my curiosity led me to unfold the scrap of paper and find out what the mysterious guild member had written. What I found, however, was very different from the sarcasm and cruelty I had anticipated. The short message was hastily scrawled, and appeared to make little sense.

"What's that? What does it say?" Monica asked, obviously ready to begin butting into my business again.

"It's…just a note. It says, 'Help me. In KC swamp. Please.'" As I read the note to Monica, I got the same uneasy feeling as when I had glanced at it earlier. Something was very wrong with this arrangement. Why would my supposed enemy ask me for help? I stared at the note. _KC swamp _probably referred to the Kerning City swamp, which was a perfect spot for ambush. The muddy ground slowed your movement, and the dense undergrowth could easily conceal danger. There was no way I was going to let my curiosity led me into a trap.

Even as I made my decision, I felt my resolve slipping away. The Mapler's face entered my thoughts, its sorrowful eyes begging for help. I looked again at the scrap of paper. The single word _Please_, underlined and smudged, seemed to shine as I read it. In a frenzy of indecision, I looked up at Monica.

She met my gaze and asked, "Well, shouldn't you go help? They did say please…"

And with that the matter was settled. I knew almost nothing about the writer of the note, except that he belonged to a guild that seemed to dedicate itself to punishing me. And yet I was about to trudge through swampland to try and save him, despite the possibility of trouble from the rest of the guild or the vicious monsters that resided there.

I thought about my day so far, and realized that the events so far left me with one realization: _Hey, at least my life's never ordinary._

Reviews are highly appreciated, especially constructive criticism. The next chapters will be longer, since this is just an exposition of Arthur (based on my level 33 ice/lightning mage in Scania, Arthurman).


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All references to Maple Story objects, places, or names are the property of the guys at Wizet and Nexon. I do own the DungeonPolice guild and all characters that I bring into the story, but that's about IT. _

Chapter 2: Rescue

The vine snapped.

I fell down through branches and moss to land heavily in the bog. Feeling my body start to sink down into the muck, I pushed myself up and tramped over to a large tree stump, where I wearily sat down. For the last three hours, I had been scanning the swampland for any trace of the mystery enemy who needed help. At first, I had tried wading through the bog, but the slow, tiring work soon discouraged me from that. Noticing some vines hanging from the trees, I had decided to scan the area while airborne, but now this plan seemed futile too.

I angrily swung my feet, hitting the trunk, which made a knocking noise-as if it were hollow. Surprised, I got up and looked at it. There was a perfectly straight line down the middle of the trunk, which could have been a cut but probably wasn't. My eyes traced an abnormal root snaking away from the trunk at a very straight angle, leading behind a rotting log. As I followed it, it began to look less like something from a tree, and more like something from a factory. It was too perfect, too symmetrical. Sure enough, behind the log, the 'root' connected to a small switch.

As I stood, deliberating whether or not to pull the switch, the entire landscape blew out in front of me. Swamp water and tree limbs flew everywhere. As I pulled a large, bad-smelling clump of moss off of my face, two figures burst out of the newly formed hole. Their black clothing and odd logo, three circles arranged in a bull's eye form, marked them both as DungeonPolice members.

I raced for the shelter of a tree, but neither member was even looking at me. Both were highly experienced mages, and they were casting very powerful spells that made the ground below me shake even from a distance. As well as waging a battle of spells, they volleyed words back and forth.

"Are you mad? Even the thought of accusing Glenner is treasonous! And to talk of corruption under his rule is nothing but foolhardy!" the taller of the mages cried. She had long brown hair tied back behind her circlet, and her robe was completely black in the style of her guild. As she spoke, a burst of red energy formed at the tip of her staff and was shot toward the other mage. As the ball of pure mana spun through the air, it scorched the forest floor below it, and the trees on either side.

The other mage laughed scornfully. "Oh, so you're saying there ISN'T corruption in the noble land of our fair tyrant? That's a joke." Though he was a bit shorter, he looked more muscular and tense, like a bowstring pulled taught. He waved his wand, and his whole body, from his fiery red hair to his dark Neli shoes, was illuminated in a wreath of yellow light. The light gathered at his right foot, and he leaped at the flying ball of energy. The mage pulled his glowing foot back and punted the red globe upward. It flew skyward and shattered about 200 yards up.

The first mage watched the fragments of her handiwork rain down. "A bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"Hey, you didn't answer me yet," the other mage challenged. "And until you do, I'll just keep getting worse…"

"Oh, heaven forbid you become even more of a showoff," the brown-haired mage teased. "And anyway, aren't we supposed to be fighting? After all, I had no choice when you declared such lies of Glenner, or so he says…"She grinned. "Look, maybe he's gotten all corrupted, but you'll only hurt yourself more by announcing it to the world. Now, shouldn't we be blowing each other's brains out?"

"Well, I would if you had any to hit, but..."

As the first mage angrily charged at the red-haired one, staff aglow once more, I crept around the fight to the switch. As I pulled it, the two halves of the tree trunk smoothly parted, revealing a narrow shaft, with ladder rungs on the side. I raced over to the shaft, began descending the ladder rungs-and froze. The red-haired mage was gazing at me. As I stared back in horror, a small smile grew at the corners of his mouth. Then he raised his wand, conjured a shining white globule of matter at the wand's tip, and swung it.

I closed my eyes tightly, and heard, as if from a distance, the loud bang as the spell hit, and the booming echoes across the swamp. Yet I felt nothing. _Is this…being dead?_ I wondered. But it sure didn't feel like the end. I reopened my eyes, thinking that I might see the pure white of heaven or the dark flames of the netherworld.

But the scene was exactly as I had left it moments before, with one exception. The female mage was struggling to control the white energy with her staff. It took a few seconds to realize that the spell hadn't been aimed towards me at all. I caught the male mage's eye again. He gave me a tiny nod, and leapt to parry a blow from the staff of the other mage. Confused but thankful for the blessing that spared my life, I scurried down the ladder.

I wasn't sure what I expected the DungeonPolice secret base to be like, although I envisioned state-of the-art technology, long, forbidding corridors, and guild members rushing to and fro on important business. What I found myself in, however, was more like a giant cave. There were many passages, but they were more like cramped tunnels than industrial hallways. The area that the shaft emptied out to seemed to be a spacious room, but it was almost deserted, except for a priest, deep in concentration, attempting to mend the huge hole that I had watched the two mages burst out of.

Absentmindedly, I stepped out from the protective wall partially covering the entrance shaft. The moment my foot touched the ground of the large chamber, it sank in an inch and stuck there. The floor area around it lit up, and a blue ray, like a scanner, ran across the bottom of my shoe. A red light flashed on the small scanning device, and alarm bells began booming.

_So much for a lack of technology_, I thought, and then dashed down a conveniently small corridor to my left. As I left the room, I saw a group of rogues dash into the large hall and gaze into the tunnels. One covered every tunnel, and I knew that I would be immediately discovered-

"Dark sight!" rasped a voice behind me, and I turned to see a chief bandit cloaking me. The pursuing rogue came right up to where I stood, looked through the tunnel ahead, and then headed back out. Satisfied, the chief bandit released his skill.

"You…saved me. Why?" I managed to blurt out.

The bandit glanced at me, as if to say, "What's it to you?" but then simply said, "Guess I was just bored. It's so much fun to mess with those rogues-make 'em see that their systems aren't always perfect. And besides…" A grim smile crept over his face. "If I turn you in, I'll get a good reward."

Before I could even register what was said, the bandit grabbed a spare rope from his pocket and deftly bound me hand and foot. Then he hefted me, grinning, and carried me down the corridor. I struggled, but what could I do against a highly leveled thief?

As we reached the end of the tunnel, the chief bandit pushed a button hidden inside the rocky wall. An entire section of the wall slid down into the ground, revealing a small elevator of white marble. My eyes popped at the sight, and the bandit muttered, "Shocked by the elite suite, are we? Always the best of everything for Guildmaster Glenner."

I watched, awed, as the elevator carried us down and opened to show a dazzling marble palace flanked by DungeonPolice guards. Smirking at my obvious amazement, the bandit led me to hulking front gates, which swung open at his touch.

We entered a shimmering throne room fit for a king. Many more guards stood posted at the walls, and a muscular bowman was seated on the actual throne. Upon seeing the entrance of me and the bandit, he rose to his feet, face a mask of concern.

"What is going on here?" he exclaimed. "Let the poor boy loose!" The bandit's forehead wrinkled in disbelief, but he reluctantly obeyed. The archer-Glenner?-beckoned me forward gently, and I felt a hope grow inside me. Maybe, just maybe, this guy could let me go.

He began to speak to me. His voice was low and pleasant to listen to. "Oh, my dear boy, what happened to you? You look positively ragged." I looked at myself, robe splattered with swamp muck, pride dented from the trip to the palace, and had to agree.

He continued on, in that warm voice. "Now why don't you just tell me what happened? I'm sure I can get things all sorted out." I envisioned what would happen if I told him what was really going on. _Oh, yeah, your guild members made me their mortal enemy, but one of them asked for help, so I tramped around in a swamp until I found your headquarters and broke in, but got saved and then captured by some high-level chief bandit, and here I am…_ I suppressed some mirthless laughter, picturing Glenner's face if I actually said that.

Seeing my discomfort, Glenner said calmly, "Maybe I should open this discussion. You are probably wondering who we are, and what we do. Now I can't give you all the answers, but hopefully what I can say will help you.

"We are, as you can probably tell, an elite group in Maple Story. We are a widespread organization and control many aspects of the entire world. Obviously, we are involved with the Dungeon of Victoria Island, and this controls our focus. However, we have connections throughout the island and in Ossyria. As you can tell, we accumulate much wealth. This palace, however, is not really for me. It represents all our power in one object."

"And…what do you do in the Dungeon?" I dared to ask.

A flicker of anger flashed in Glenner's eyes, as though I had asked the wrong thing. However, it was gone in an instant, and he continued his narrative.

"The Dungeon is a magical place. It has the most variety of any part of our world, and therefore must be carefully mediated to avoid…trouble. Therefore, our guild has taken it upon themselves to maintain a peaceful and healthy environment there. Of course, our routines must be kept secret from the many Maplers who train in the Dungeon area. Thus the undercover bases and operations."

I nodded. What Glenner said made sense, but…

"Mr. Glenner, why does your guild hound me? I don't know why, but one day they began tormenting me."

"What are you talking about?" Glenner responded, clearly surprised. "Members of our guild_…are stalking_ you? Maybe you have us confused with some others…"

When I shook my head, he was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Have you done much in the Dungeon lately?"

I racked my brains. "Well, I did find a rare scroll there right before the trouble started. Is there something wrong with that?"

Glenner sighed. "I suppose that you took a good look at that scroll? I don't want to sound seedy, but, um, we do manufacture false scrolls in order to catch hackers in the Dungeon…"

_So it was that dumb scroll. I knew it was too good to be true._ "So, you thought I could keep the scroll and, well, uncover your business?"

"Exactly. I assume they were trying to frighten you into returning the scroll. I take it you had already sold it?"

As I nodded fervently, he smiled softly. "Well, I'm sure we can track down the scroll. In the meantime, just try to forget about us. I doubt that you'll ever see us again." He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. A guard walked from his post to lead me out.

I walked out of the palace slowly, feeling vulnerable under the glare of the chief bandit and the amazed stares of the guards. As I neared the elevator, I noticed another tunnel snaking off to the side of the palace. I pretended to stumble, and then quickly grabbed my bronze pride and threw it across the floor. The guard, who had been looking towards the elevator, turned to me in surprise.

Feigning embarrassment, I went to retrieve my headgear. Sighing, the guard accompanied me. Just as I had hoped, the detour took us behind the side wall of the marble palace, and therefore out of sight of the other DungeonPolice members. When we reached the pride, I bent down-and swung my feet at the guard's legs. He toppled over and fell on the hard stone while I dashed into the side tunnel.

The corridor snaked and twisted, restricting my speed. To further complicate matters, it branched off into several parts, and I had no idea which one to take. As I deliberated, I heard a noise from a path to my right, and a page burst out of it. His eyes widened as he took in my appearance, but then he seemed to recognize me.

"Mike?" he asked hesitantly. "Dude, what happened to your clothes?"

Caught off guard, I could only mumble, "Uh, well, I was…attacked?" The page's face hardened. For a moment, I was sure he didn't believe me, but then he said doubtfully, "So that's why you're here? Coming to get some revenge on the prisoner? Boy, that sure sounds like you, Mike."

I nodded, but made no attempt to move. If I picked the incorrect tunnel, the page would surely realize that 'Mike' was an imposter. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me. After a while, he said, "Well, go on." I nervously turned and headed down a passage to my right. He stared at me, and I knew I had made the wrong choice. As the page pulled out a spear, I turned to run-and promptly snagged my doros robe on an outcropping of rock. Helplessly, I could only stare as the page put the spear to my neck.

"Listen," he growled. "I don't know who you are, but know that you aren't going anywhere until you answer a few questions. Who are you? How did you get here? What did you do to Mike? And most importantly, what are you trying to do here, passing off as him?"

Suddenly I was sick of lying. When I was brought back to Glenner, he'd probably get the truth anyway. "You want to know what I'm doing." I angrily said. "Fine. I bet you won't believe me, but here goes." The page nodded-then suddenly fell forward, landing on his face right in front of me. Shocked, I saw his form replaced by a much smaller one, dressed in normal warrior clothes rather than the ebony of the DungeonPolice. As I looked at the new person, I realized that I had just been saved by the guild member I had come to rescue. He helped me up, shaking his head at my foolishness.

"You were about to spill your guts to that guy?" he asked incredulously. "Gee, I thought mages were supposed to be intelligent…" I nodded dumbly, completely dumbfounded.

"Uh, who are you?" I decided to ask.

The warrior looked nervous. "Call me Ka-er, call me Karl," he said. "My big bro wanted me to join the DungeonPolice, but I didn't really enjoy the work. When I started complaining, though, they began to punish me. To get some payback, I demolished part of a big dungeon project they were working on. The other members never had any proof, but they sent guards to watch me on my missions." I remembered the unseen figure Karl had been startled by earlier.

"Anyway, the dude watching me must have seen me drop the note, and I got stuck in the slammer…here I am. How about you?"

"I'm…just Arthur," I said. Compared to Karl's somewhat thrilling tale, I felt as if my life were unimportant.

There seemed nothing left to say, so we entered a very awkward silence cut short when we were interrupted by a beeping from the 'solid' wall next to us. All the color drained from the warrior's face.

"Oh crap! The guards I knocked out earlier to ditch my cell must be up. They'll be after me now. Okay, Mr. Mage, what's your escape plan?" I gulped in response. Noticing, the warrior sneered, "You do have a way out, right? Oh, man, this is just like a magician-"

"Of _course _I have an escape plan," I interrupted, while thinking, _What in Maple have I gotten myself into? _Attempting to look confident, I headed back towards Glenner's palace. The warrior jumped on me, whispering, "Are you completely insane? What, do you think Glenner will just let us waltz out of here?"

Defensively, I said, "Glenner's not such a bad guy. I'm sure he'll understand. Have you talked to him yet?"

The warrior stared at me with such disbelief that I seriously considered if I had grown a second head. "No way. How could you say that? Don't tell me you actually believed that man's pack of lies!" I thought of Glenner, all his supposed sincerity and caring. Then I remembered the angry flash in his eyes, his palace that he _said _was not for him, and how the red-haired mage from earlier had called him a 'tyrant'. _Glenner was using me!_ I didn't know where the thought came from, but I was absolutely certain it was true. Under all his sugar-coated words, Guildmaster Glenner was a very ruthless man.

"As soon as he notices…well, even our attire, we'll be captured and likely killed! Got any other smart ideas?" As the warrior said the word _attire_, a wild idea grew in my head-one so insane that it just might work. I grinned. "Actually…"

"How did you rope me into this?" the warrior complained quietly.

"No talking," I chided him. "Besides, I'm saving your hide. You should write me a thank-you card or something." I was happy to earn a groan of mock horror from the warrior. Then we had to be silent as we approached Glenner's palace. We were approaching the risky part of this operation.

As we strode on towards the elevators, many guards spared us glances, but nothing more. Glenner looked up as we passed the throne. I imagined what he would see. Two rather short guards on a mission, heading for the exit. The guards would be dressed in customary black garb, seeming perhaps a bit nervous. But that could be expected-who knows how dangerous their assignments could be?

What the Guildmaster did not know was that the DungeonPolice clothing was taken from the two guards we had knocked out. The clothing was a bit baggy, especially on the warrior, but we folded and tucked and pulled the outfits until they looked presentable. The warrior was unsure about the plan at first, but his mind quickly changed when we had to duck out of sight to avoid a patrol clearly after us.

We reached the elevator without incident, and the warrior thankfully knew what buttons to push to take us back to the caves. _Lucky for us he had practice,_ I thought. W_hy did they put him in their prison?_

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until we reached the priest in the entrance area. She looked up at us, just as a low stalactite caught a lip on the warrior's black armor plate. It pulled off, revealing his actual armor. The priest seemed taken aback for only a second, and then fired a blast of energy at us. The spell hit a stone and burst apart. I dodged safely out of the way, but the warrior was not so lucky. He was hit by only the aftermath of the blast, but it was sufficient to blast him into the air. He landed hard on his back, and his helm split in two as it slammed into the rock.

I gasped as 'his' hair was revealed-long, curly, black waves. Rooted to the spot, I saw what had finally been shown, that the great warrior was female! I sped over to her, jaw almost hitting the floor. The warrior, almost unconscious, still managed to glare at me.

"You're…I mean…uh, this is kinda awkward…um…Karl?" I stuttered.

"Oh, brother," she sighed. "Do you have a death wish? If not, get GOING! And, for the record, it's Katie." She promptly passed out. I picked her up and jumped away from another spell. Still startled by the revelation, I faced the ladder rungs of the chute, wishing that I could make like the magicians from earlier and burst out of the ground.

_What's wrong, Arthur? _I challenged myself. _Not up to the everyday puzzle of dragging an unconscious warrior up a vertical incline while being pursued by a dangerous and powerful priest?_ As I struggled to come up with a plan, the priest caught up with us and sent a wave of light at the pair of us.

Desperately, I cried, "Magic Guard!" hoping to stay alive, at least. I knew the strong attack would easily shatter our defenses, but a flickering shield appeared between us and the wave, without any direction from me. _Another shocking miracle_, I thought dazedly. _This must be my lucky day. I've sure needed every bit of good chance so far._

The shield enveloped us as the attack drove it up the chute and out into the swamp, like a bubble floating up from mucky depths. As we cleared the top of the chute, I could see our savior clearly-the red-haired mage who let me enter before. I set the fainted warrior down and strode over to him.

"Okay," I said with a determined air. "I've witnessed too many shocks recently to be surprised. I just want to know why you did this."

The mage took a step back, raising his hands as if in protection from my bluntness. "Whoa, hold on there," he said. "First off, I believe you owe me a little thank you. Second, I could just dump you back in the base. And last but not least, it's none of your business."

I snorted. "So you want us to walk away, trying to forget the whole encounter? That's what Glenner wanted us to do, and we didn't exactly listen to him."

The mage smiled ruefully. "Boy, the day anyone actually obeys him is the day ribbon pigs fly. If you have to know, it's just fun to make the Guildmaster fume as things fall apart under him. Good way to get your kicks." He chuckled a bit, and then jumped down the chute.

A groan from behind me disturbed my thoughts, and I turned to see Katie stirring. I got a bottle of pure water from my pack and gave it to her. After sucking down the water noisily, she turned to me-and a Ligator burst out of the swamp. Gasping, the warrior quickly swung her sword at the beast. It blinked and lunged for her. I pushed the warrior out of the way, and felt the jaws of the creature clamp around my leg.

I flinched, but soon realized that Magic Guard had protected me from most of the pain. Angrily, I snatched up my wand and blasted the Ligator with five straight Ice Beams, killing it. The warrior was left speechless, staring at the dead creature with blank eyes.

"Just like a magician, huh?" I joked. She nodded dumbly, but managed a tiny laugh. Then she stopped abruptly, struck by a recollection. Haltingly, she asked, "You do know that Ligators travel in packs, right?" A roar came from behind us.

The two of us were racing for Kerning City a second later.

Thank you to everyone for the reviews last chapter. Keep 'em coming, folks!


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